Science

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a long tradition of scientific excellence and always uses the best-available science to inform its work to conserve fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitat for the benefit of the American public.

National Wildlife Refuges

Where Wildlife Comes First

Created in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, today's National Wildlife Refuge System protects habitats and wildlife across the country, from the Alaskan tundra to subtropical wetlands. Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Refuge System's 560-plus refuges cover more than 150 million acres and protect nearly 1,400 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

While national wildlife refuges were created to protect wildlife, they are for people too. Refuges are ideal places for people of all ages to explore and connect with the natural world. We invite you to learn more about and visit the national wildlife refuges and wetland management districts in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

Ecological Services

The Mountain-Prairie Region's Office of Ecological Services (ES) works to restore and protect healthy populations of fish, wildlife, and plants and the environments upon which they depend. Using the best available science, ES personnel work with Federal, State, Tribal, local, and non-profit stakeholders, as well as private land owners, to avoid, minimize, and mitigate threats to our Nation's natural resources.

Migratory Birds

Providing leadership in the conservation of migratory bird habitat through partnerships, grants, and outreach for present and future generations. The Migratory Bird Program is responsible for maintaining healthy migratory bird populations for the benefit of the American people.

Fish and Aquatic Conservation

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Fish and Aquatic Conservation Program in the Mountain-Prairie Region helps conserve, protect, and enhance aquatic resources and provides economically valuable recreational fishing to anglers across the country. The program comprises 12 National Fish Hatcheries.

External Affairs

External Affairs staff in the Mountain-Prairie Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides support to the regional office and field stations to communicate and faciliate information about the Service's programs to the public, media, Congress, Tribes, partners, and other stakeholders in the 8-state region.

One of the primary responsibilities of the Environmental Contaminants program is the identification of environmental contaminant problems affecting National Wildlife Refuge lands, migratory birds, and threatened and endangered species.

When problems are identified, appropriate actions are pursued to eliminate the contaminant threat and restore affected resources. Equally important, the program provides technical assistance to other Service programs, to State and Federal agencies, and to the public.

The primary aim of the U.S. Department of the Interior's (Department) Natural Resources Damage Assessment and Restoration Program (NRDAR) is to restore natural resources injured as the result of oil spills or hazardous substance releases. The program assesses the damages and injuries to natural resources entrusted to the Department and negotiates legal settlements or takes other legal actions against the responsible parties for the spill or release. Funds from these settlements are then used to restore the injured resources at no expense to the taxpayer. Settlements often include the recovery of the costs incurred in assessing the damages. These funds are then used to fund further damage assessments.

Colorado

Department of Interior National Irrigation Water Quality Program (NIWQP), investigations into problems caused by irrigation drainage from large irrigation projects in the Uncompahgre and Grand Valley in western Colorado revealed selenium loading into the Uncompahgre, Gunnison and Colorado rivers resulting in exceedances of water quality criterion. General Area Map

Biologists suspect the selenium is causing reproductive failure in both fish and birds inhabiting the study area. Research conducted by Dr. Steve Hamilton (Environmental and Contaminants Research Center) suggests that selenium is adversely affecting reproduction and recruitment of endangered razorback suckers.

The EC Program at the Grand Junction, CO field office have worked in partnership with the NIWQP, other state and federal agencies, local governments and private landowners to resolve selenium contamination resulting from irrigation drainwater. Within the Scope of the NIWQP, the EC Program at the Grand Junction field office is actively involved in work with selenium and its impact on fish and wildlife resources in the Uncompahgre, Gunnison and upper Colorado River basins. Most recently the NIWQP assisted with installing 8 miles of piped lateral to replace an existing earthen lateral system which provides water to farmers in the Uncompahgre basin. Preliminary results have shown up to a 40% reduction in selenium loading within the affected basin from this project! These results indicate a far greater reduction in selenium loading than was predicted. Monitoring will continue to determine if this reduction in selenium loading will continue.

The EC staff is involved with the NIWQP Gunnison-Grand Valley Core Team, an interagency team which also includes staff from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Photos showing Pam being sprayed onto the canals when they are dry prior to turning the irrigation water in.

The Core Team has worked with the Gunnison Basin Selenium Task Force, and development of Best Management Practices and remediation alternatives. The Selenium Task Force is a local grass roots organization, established in the Uncompahgre basin to explore options for reducing selenium loads into the Uncompahgre River to meet state water quality standards. To date, the Task Force has received over $638,000 in grants and matching funds aimed at selenium reduction. On-going Task Force projects include: an effort to determine other source areas for selenium contamination, a phytoremediation project using poplar trees, and monitoring the effects of land use conversion on selenium loading (i.e. conversion of irrigated and non-irrigated lands to subdivisions). The task force has been very active with education and outreach, including bringing in renowned experts to talk to the local water users about other geographic areas with high selenium problems and potential solutions. The Task Force’s web site (https:///www.seleniumtaskforce.org) explains their mission, efforts and activities.

Kansas

Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFOs) are agricultural production facilities where large numbers of animals (swine, poultry, cattle, etc.) are raised inside of large buildings. Some of the larger CAFOs can exceed 100,000 chickens, or over 300,000 pigs. These facilities produce large volumes of animal waste which is temporarily stored in open lagoons and then applied to crop fields as a fertilizer. In Kansas, CAFOs with more than 300 Animal Units (750 pigs) present on site must apply for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). These permits allow for land application of wastes, but generally prohibit discharges directly to surface water. In 1998, the Kansas Field Office received a public notice of intent to issue a NPDES permit for a 4,400 head swine operation near Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area in central Kansas. Cheyenne Bottoms has been designated as a Wetland of International Importance and is the only listed critical habitat (whooping cranes) in the state. Part of the waste management plan for this operation included land application of solid wastes to parcels abutting Cheyenne Bottoms. Interestingly enough, prior to and during the Public Comment period for the permit, a moderate rainfall event had caused Cheyenne Bottoms to inundate one of these parcels, and the other was draining significant amounts of runoff directly into Cheyenne Bottoms. Had the permit been allowed as proposed, large volumes of untreated swine waste could have been discharged directly into Cheyenne Bottoms. Through our responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act, the Kansas Field Office and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks provided technical assistance to KDHE and the permit applicant to avoid this potential impact. As a result, the permit applicant identified other land parcels where the waste material could be applied which do not drain into Cheyenne Bottoms, thereby eliminating the risk of pollution, while still allowing for the project to proceed.

Montana

The Mill-Willow Bypass near Warm Springs, Montana was severely contaminated with mine waste containing very high concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead and zinc. Historically, fish kills in the Bypass and Clark Fork River had occurred, and in 1989, over 5,000 fish were killed by overland flow during a summer thunderstorm. In addition, the adjacent 2,600-acre water treatment pond system contained over 250 acres of slickens (exposed, fluvially deposited mine waste). The Helena EC Program has provided technical assistance to the EPA for over five years during remediation of the treatment ponds and the Bypass. Fish and migratory bird exposure to the contaminants has been greatly reduced, and valuable habitat remediated. The trout population is heavily fished. Over 140 migratory bird species, including the peregrine falcon and one pair of nesting bald eagles, use the area.

A similar overbank tailings deposition
area 5 years after removal of the
contaminated material.
USFWS Photo by bill Olsen.

An unremediated overbank
tailings deposition area
upstream of the removal area.
USFWS Photo by Bill Olsen.

The Dakotas

Environmental Contaminant Specialists provide environmental reviews for U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) land acquisition programs that add lands to the National Wildlife Refuge System. In the Dakotas, this can be upwards of 50,000 acres per year mostly focused on wetland and grassland easements with limited fee title purchases. The environmental contaminant reviews are required by federal regulations aimed at protecting the government (tax payers) from costly environmental cleanups. In the Dakotas, most of the environmental reviews are for easements within the Dakota Grassland Conservation Area where we are working with private landowners to accelerate the conservation of Prairie Pothole Region wetlands and native prairie. The Dakota Grassland Conservation Area initiative is part of a landscape-scale, strategic habitat conservation effort established to conserve populations of migratory birds by protecting the unique, highly diverse, and endangered Prairie Pothole Region ecosystem. From 2011 - 2014, the Environmental Contaminants Program in South Dakota reviewed and signed over 580 easement pre-acquisition surveys aimed at protecting approximately 24,200 wetland acres and 114,500 grassland acres.

Beginning in the 1870s due to discovery of gold, millions of tons of toxic tailings were deposited along South Dakota’s Whitewood creek in Lawrence, Meade and Butte counties. Natural resources affected included: surface and ground waters, drinking water, fisheries resources, soils, sediments, habitat (including uplands, flood plains and riparian areas), vegetation, aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, state or federally listed threatened or endangered species and migratory birds. A Natural Resource Damage Assessment claim was settled in 1999 with the Homestake Mining Company for 4 million dollars along with some land and water rights transfers. The funds were divided evenly between natural resource Trustees which included the Department of Interior (DOI), State of South Dakota and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. The State and DOI pooled their settlement funds and have purchased 355-acres of property in Spearfish Canyon including 1.52 miles of stream, Roughlock Falls, and two ponds. The most recent addition came in December of 2014 when $105,000 of settlement funds was combined with a Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Grant and funds from the Spearfish Canyon Foundation to attain approximately $1.2 million of quality lands including Little Spearfish Falls. The natural resources protected on these lands are similar to those injured in Whitewood Creek and will be managed in perpetuity for public use by the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks. The Restoration Team continues to seek proposals to restore, replace and/or acquire equivalent trust natural resources and lost services in accordance with the “Final Conceptual Restoration and Compensation Plan for Whitewood Creek and the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne River Watersheds, South Dakota.”

In 1995, the EPA approved the North Dakota Endangered Species-Pesticide Management Plan. This was the first such plan in the nation. It is a collaborative effort between the FWS, North Dakota Agriculture Department, North Dakota Game and Fish Department, and local agriculture groups such as the Farm Bureau and Farmers Union. The plan protects four threatened and endangered species (pallid sturgeon, piping plover, bald eagle, and least tern) from 27 pesticides at nearly 150 breeding sites throughout the state. Currently satellite imagery and GIS technology is being employed to further protect these species from pesticides.

The Environmental Contaminants program regularly participates with North Dakota Agricultural Extension Service to recertify pesticide applicators. This has proven to be an effective endeavor in presenting pesticides and wildlife before those who work with the chemicals on a daily basis. In addition to speaking personally to applicators, we also have made a video discussing pesticides and their impact of the environment. This video is shown yearly to thousands of pesticide applicators and farmers via satellite hook up throughout the state.

Oil Field Waste Pits and Bird Mortalities

Oil companies in western North Dakota are beginning to take steps to protect migratory birds. Each year, oil pits in the western part of the state entrap and kill many neotropical migrants. Through a combination of enforcement and cooperative efforts, oil companies are beginning to understand their role in protecting birds. While many companies continue to resist placing nets over oil pits, several companies are actively taking measures to protect migratory birds.

Utah

Department of Interior National Irrigation Water Quality Program (NIWQP) investigations into problems caused by irrigation drainage in northeastern Utah revealed leakage of wastewater ponds at the Ashley Valley Wastewater Treatment Facility (Ashley Valley) near Vernal. The wastewater percolated through Mancos Shale, a selenium-bearing formation, and out into Ashley Creek, a tributary to the Green River in an area of biological importance to the endangered razorback sucker. High concentrations of selenium entered the environment from this source. The USFWS EC Program in Utah played a major role in NIWQP investigations in northeastern Utah and in assessing the Ashley Creek selenium problem. The State of Utah and Ashley Valley initiated action when the USFWS threatened prosecution under the Endangered Species Act due to effects to endangered fish. Ashley Valley and the State of Utah signed a consent decree to replace the existing lagoon system with a mechanical treatment facility by February 2001. Ashley Valley has initiated interim measures aimed at reducing seepage into the selenium-bearing formation by reducing the number of ponds from five to three. Grants and loans from the State of Utah and a federal appropriation of $7 million will be used to pay for the project. Salinity control funds from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation may also be available for the project. Ashley Valley has received designs and construction bids for a new facility. Construction will take approximately 18 months. The load of selenium contributed to the Green River system by Ashley Creek is about the same as all of the other upstream sources combined. The NIWQP studies showed that the Ashley Valley wastewater ponds contributed the majority of selenium into Ashley Creek. Completion of the new facility should eliminate a significant portion of the selenium problem to endangered fish in northeastern Utah.

Jordan River Habitat Restoration

The Jordan River, located in Salt Lake County Utah, is a highly urbanized and degraded river that has been dewatered, channelized and polluted. Five Superfund sites located on the Jordan River have been or are in the process of being remediated. In 1991 the USFWS received a $2.3 million settlement from the responsible parties of one of the Superfund sites known as the Sharon Steel Superfund site. The funds were for restoring threatened and endangered species, migratory birds and wetlands affected by the release of heavy metals from the site. In 1997, the USFWS embarked on three long term projects to restore damaged natural resources and restore 274 acres of habitat on the Jordan River. Other federal, state, municipal and nonprofit organizations including Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, West Jordan City, City of South Jordan, National Audubon Society, Great Salt Lake Audubon Society, Tree Utah and Trust for Public Lands have contributed both funds and in-kind services to match the $2.3 million with $7.4 million for a total of $9.7 million! This partnership of state and federal agencies and local organizations have begun work on properties acquired for the restoration project. Efforts are underway to contour highly erodible banks, remove nonnative invasive vegetation and to plant trees and shrubs which are native and provide quality habitats for migratory birds. As property values continue to rise, it becomes a race to acquire the remaining acreage with the secured funds and the USFWS is now looking for new partners to join the effort to preserve and protect a riparian corridor on the Jordan River. These projects represent immense planning, negotiating and vision from many agencies of various jurisdictions as well as nonprofit organizations, municipalities and private citizens which have come together to make these projects a reality. For more information on these projects, visit our web site at: www.r6.fws.gov/jordan.

Wyoming

The Wyoming EC Program has provided technical assistance to the Partners for Fish and Wildlife program. In 1992, EC technical assistance averted a lead shot problem at a wetland development project in a former sewage pond in Buffalo, Wyoming. Elevated lead levels in soil and sediment led to further investigation which revealed the source as lead shot. The former sewage pond was once used as a shooting range. The lead shot was confined to the upper two inches of soil. During construction of the wetland project, the upper six inches of soil was removed and disposed of in accordance with Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality requirements. The wetland project proceeded, and the site now provides habitat for breeding aquatic migratory birds.

Oil-covered pit at a commercial oil field wastewater disposal facility in Campbell County, Wyoming. USFWS Photo by Gary Mowad.

Commercial oil field wastewater disposal
facility in Campbell County, Wyoming
after remediation of the oil pit.
USFWS Photo by Pedro Ramirez, Jr.

Oil Field Waste Pits and Bird Mortalities

The Wyoming EC Program has partnered with the Law Enforcement Division and EPA to investigate migratory bird mortalities in oil field waste pits and non-compliance with other environmental regulations (Oil Pollution Act, Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) by oil field operators. In 1997, approximately 400 oil field waste pits were surveyed from the air by a USFWS Special Agent and EPA. Approximately 216 sites were identified as potential problems. Ground inspections involving the Wyoming EC Program, EPA, USFWS Special Agents, as well as state and federal co-regulators, further identified sites requiring remediation and follow-up by co-regulators. Several operators have been issued notices of violation by either the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality or the Bureau of Land Management and have been instructed to either clean up their sites or enclose oil pits with netting to prevent migratory bird mortality. The EPA has issued administrative orders under RCRA 7003 on a few of the worst sites to obtain cleanup. The combined effort of state and federal agencies as well as peer pressure from within the oil industry has resulted in the cleanup of a vast majority of the sites.

Krueger, R.P., Thompson and B.C. Osmundson. 1991. Big River Fishes: Environmental Contaminants in Fish Species used as Surrogates for Threatened and Endangered Fish of the Colorado River Basin. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Grand Junction, CO.

Thompson, A.L. and R.P. Krueger. 1990. A Comprehensive Analysis and Interpretation of Contaminant Data from the San Luis Valley, Colorado, 1986-1989. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Western Colorado Sub-office.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1987. Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Environmental Assessment, Denver, CO.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1993. Assessment of the Trout Population in the Upper Arkansas River Basin of Central Colorado. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Golden, CO.

Allen, G.T. and S.H. Blackford. 1993. Contaminants in interior least terns and snowy plover eggs from Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in 1992. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Contaminant Report Number R6/511M/93. 9 pp.

Allen, G.T. and S. H. Blackford. 1995. Contaminants evaluation of Neosho madtom habitats in the Neosho River drainage in Kansas. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Contaminant Report Number R6/513M/95. 75 pp.

Allen, G.T. and R.M. Wilson. 1992. Trace elements and organic compounds in the Spring River Basin of southeastern Kansas in 1988. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Contaminant Report Number R6/505M/91. 60 pp.

Blackford, S.H. and G.T. Allen. 1996. Contaminants evaluation of the Solomon River drainage in Kansas. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Contaminant Report Number R6/514M/96. 46 pp.

Palawski, D.U., F.J. Pichett and B. Olsen. 1996. Trace elements and organochlorines in sediments and fish from Missouri River Reservoirs in Montana. US Fish and Wildlife Service Contaminants Report, Helena, MT.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1989. Baseline study of trace elements in the aquatic ecosystem of the James River, Garrison Diversion Unit, 1986-1988. Technical Report. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1990. Baseline study of trace elements and organic compounds at National Wildlife Refuges along the aquatic ecosystem of the Des Lacs and Souris Rivers, North Dakota (1987-1989). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1991. An investigation into the water quality of Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Burleigh and Kidder Counties, North Dakota. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1991. An investigation of the cause of a snow goose die off at South Twin Lake, LaMoure County, North Dakota, 1984-1985. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1991. An investigation of inorganic chemicals in fish from Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery, McLean County, North Dakota. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1991. An investigation of trace element concentrations in biota and sediments in relation to avian botulism at Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge, North Dakota. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1991. A pre-reconnaissance investigation of trace
elements and organic contaminants in biota and sediments at Fort Clark and Heart
Butte irrigation units. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1992. Concentrations of inorganic and organic chemicals in fish and sediments from the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, North Dakota, 1988-90. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1992. Concentrations of potential contaminants in shovelnose sturgeon from the Missouri River at Bismarck, North Dakota, 1991. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1993. Concentrations of inorganic and organic chemicals in fish and sediments from major tributaries of the Missouri River in North Dakota, 1989-91. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1994. A survey of contaminants associated with industrial sources along the Little Muddy River, Williams County, North Dakota. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1994. An evaluation of trace element concentrations in a marsh influenced by irrigation drainwater at Oakes Test Area, Garrison Diversion Unit, North Dakota. U.S. Fish and wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1994. Trace element concentrations in biota and sediments at Tewaukon National Wildlife Refuge, Sargent County, North Dakota. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1998. 1996 lead shot study of upland habitat on North Dakota’s Federal trust resource land. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1998. Contaminant concerns for West River National Wildlife Refuges, Slope and Dunn Counties, North Dakota. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Bismarck, North Dakota, USA.

South Dakota

Ruelle, R. 1991. A contaminant evaluation of interior least tern and piping plover eggs and chicks on the Missouri River, South Dakota. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 18 pp.

Ruelle, R. 1991. A pesticide and toxicity evaluation of wetland waters and sediments on National Wildlife Refuges in South Dakota. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Contaminant Report Number: R6/804P/91. 27 pp.

Ruelle, R. and C. Henry. 1993. Contaminant and toxicity evaluation of National Wildlife Refuge and private wetlands in South Dakota. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Contaminant Report Number: R6/814P/93. 36 pp.

Ruelle, R. and C. Henry. 1994. Life history observations and contaminant evaluation of pallid sturgeon, final report. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 33 pp.

Ruelle, R.R. and C.J. Henry. 1995. Survey of organophosphate insecticides in wetlands near sunflower fields in South Dakota, final report. 15 pp.

Stephens, Doyle W., and Waddell, Bruce H., 1989, Selenium contamination from irrigation drainage in the Western United States with emphasis on UtahGeology and Hydrology of Hazardous Waste, Mining Waste, Waste Water and Repository Sites in Utah. Utah Geological Association, October 1989.

Ramirez, P. Jr. and J.A. Armstrong. 1990. Trace elements in water and sediments from wetlands in the Laramie Plains and their relationship to the recovery of the Wyoming toad (Bufo hemiophrys baxteri). US Fish and Wildlife Service Contaminant Report, Cheyenne, WY.